There’s no doubt that Kirsten Stewart is a gorgeous young woman, but there’s definitely something of the night about her too. It’s kind of funny that she’s playing the mortal next to a pack of vampires as she looks more bloodthirsty than the rest of them put together.

Maybe she’s just perpetually hungry; a Hollywood diet would do that to anyone.

The other day I was watching Jumper and recognised her in a brief scene near the end when Anakin Skywalker found his mother. She was skulking around the place for no particular reason, and gave him this wolfish look like she wanted to make a bracelet with his fingertips.

Anyway, talking about dangerous damsels and feckless villains, I had to laugh at this video of Buffy vs Edward Cullen. Could there be any doubt over who would win that battle? Never mind Buffy, Angel would make mincemeal of that glittery softie for embarrassing the entire vampire race.

I love the speed and convenience of email, but there’s nothing better than receiving a personal letter through the post.

Yesterday I received a letter from my Mexican-American penpal, Alberto, who lives in San Francisco. We’ve been writing to each other for about 13 years now.

When we were both 16 or 17 years old our English teachers did an international exchange and swapped countries and classes for a year. Our American teacher encouraged us to write a letter to our US counterparts which would be matched up with an appropriate person. For some weird reason I requested a female penpal. A while later I was given his reply, which said that we had so much in common that he had to write to me (I was learning Spanish and studying music at the time). Since then we’ve written to each other quite regularly, and hung out when I visited San Francisco in 2004.

We write to each other in Spanish, which is the main way that I’ve kept up my Spanish since I studied it years ago. We normally write about our careers, life goals, families, love-lives and creative pursuits. He plays guitar and listens to Latino rock music.

He always uses the same kind of envelopes, so I smiled with recognition when my mother handed it to me. Although we could easily correspond via email, for me at least there’s something about knowing that a letter has been handwritten, folded and placed in an envelope, posted and carried on an international flight before it could finally reach my letterbox.

I’ve just heard the news that Michael Jackson has died of a cardiac arrest. I really can’t believe it. He was such an incredible entertainer and musical talent.

His personal life was troubled, but there’s no doubt that for many years he was an inspiration to millions of people around the world.

Rest in Peace

Which musical mode are you?

Aeolian Mode. Or just plain old Minor. All the “white keys” starting on A, and you’ve got a minor scale.

You have a dark sense of humor. You like to keep to yourself, finding social interaction rather difficult and draining, perhaps even boring. Sometimes you feel like life is a real drag, and question why you even bother. How depressing, dude. In truth, the thing that keeps you going is the vague notion and hope in a little thing called Love. You are a hopeless romantic. You often stare out the window and daydream, most likely about that special someone that you wish you were good enough for. Yes, love really does make the world go round, and it’s not all rainbows and sunny meadows. That’s not real love. Love is a brutal, gut-wrenching affair. You probably have some sort of creative talent, which is good. If you didn’t have an outlet for all your emotions you’d probably lose your mind.

I was hoping to be dorian mode for some reason, but this is quite fitting too.